Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2013-5973

VMware ESXi 4.0 through 5.5 and ESX 4.0 and 4.1 allow local users to read or modify arbitrary files by leveraging the Virtual Machine Power User or Resource Pool Administrator role for a vCenter Server Add Existing Disk action with a (1) -flat, (2) -rdm, or (3) -rdmp filename.

Security Impact Summary

CVE-2013-5973 is a security vulnerability that . Impacting 2 products from vmware, from vmware organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Documented in 2013, this vulnerability occurred amid the cloud computing expansion era, where traditional network perimeter security models were being reevaluated. Organizations were transitioning from isolated infrastructure to interconnected systems, creating new attack surfaces that vulnerabilities like this could exploit.

Published

2013-12-23T15:42:30.137

Last Modified

2026-04-29T01:13:23.040

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv2: 4.4 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Access Vector: LOCAL
Access Complexity: MEDIUM
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: PARTIAL
Integrity Impact: PARTIAL
Availability Impact: PARTIAL

Exploitability Score

3.4

Impact Score

6.4

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-264

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Operating System	vmware	esx	4.0	Yes
Operating System	vmware	esx	4.1	Yes
Operating System	vmware	esxi	4.0	Yes
Operating System	vmware	esxi	4.0	Yes
Operating System	vmware	esxi	4.0	Yes
Operating System	vmware	esxi	4.0	Yes
Operating System	vmware	esxi	4.0	Yes
Operating System	vmware	esxi	4.1	Yes
Operating System	vmware	esxi	4.1	Yes
Operating System	vmware	esxi	4.1	Yes
Operating System	vmware	esxi	5.0	Yes
Operating System	vmware	esxi	5.0	Yes
Operating System	vmware	esxi	5.0	Yes
Operating System	vmware	esxi	5.1	Yes
Operating System	vmware	esxi	5.1	No
Operating System	vmware	esxi	5.5	No

References

http://jvn.jp/en/jp/JVN13154935/index.html ([email protected])
http://jvndb.jvn.jp/en/contents/2013/JVNDB-2013-000123.html ([email protected])
http://osvdb.org/101387 ([email protected])
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/530482/100/0/threaded ([email protected])
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/64491 ([email protected])
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1029529 ([email protected])
http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2013-0016.html Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/89938 ([email protected])
http://jvn.jp/en/jp/JVN13154935/index.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://jvndb.jvn.jp/en/contents/2013/JVNDB-2013-000123.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://osvdb.org/101387 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/530482/100/0/threaded (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/64491 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1029529 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2013-0016.html Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/89938 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For vmware's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.